Indian tour bunkered in the courts

A continuing dispute over control has caused the start of India's new professional golf season to be postponed.

16 Sep 2006 07:41 GMT

One of India's golfing stars Joyti Randhawa

An Indian company marketing the tour announced the delay, citing a poor response from players and raising doubts over whether the tour would remain in its current form.

The tour organizers for eight years, Tiger Sports Marketing (TSM), are locked in a court battle with the Professional Golfers Association of India (PGAI) after the governing body annulled the current contract in June and attempted to run its own tour.

The court hearing is set for next Wednesday, the day the tour should have started.

After cricket, golf is the fastest growing sport in India and the pro tour has seen enormous growth over the past decade with prize money for 2005 topping $650,336, the TSM 2006 season had announced a schedule of eight events.

However dissatisfaction amongst the players has been growing in the last two seasons as the golfers become increasingly frustrated with the tour's slow financial growth and scheduling of events.

There was a flashpoint in the crisis in May when domestic players were outraged when fewer of them were given entry to the Aamby Valley Asian Tour event.

TSM blamed a technicality and then said the prize money would count towards the amount it had pledged to raise for the domestic tour.

In June, a majority of the 250-odd players persuaded the PGAI's governing board to resign. The new board annulled the contract with the marketing company, TSM responded by declaring the decision was illegal.

A solution outside of the courts appeared within reach after discussions were held last month to raise additional sponsorship with former cricket captain Kapil Dev, an Asian Tour board member, playing an active role.

However, TSM are now said to be waiting for the outcome of the court hearing after dismissing talks of a compromise.

Outgoing chief executive of the Asian Tour, Louis Martin said he hoped the issue would be settled soon.

"We being a player-led body, we would certainly support whatever player initiatives there are," he told Reuters from Singapore.